Improvement in gates



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN F. DIGKEY, OF MARSHALL, MICHIGAN.

IMPROVEMENT IN GATES.

Specification formingpart of ALetters Patent No. I03,5`S3, dated Mayl, 1870. i

To alb/whom it may concern.- h Be it known that l., BENJAMIN F. DIGKEY, of the township of Marshallfin the county of Calhoun and State of Michigan, have invented certain Improvements in Approach-Opening Gates, of which the following isaspecification.

My invention relates in part to a combination, with the gate and hanging-post, of a pivot shifting-lever'and an angular guide plate or block to cause thesaid lever and the gatecorner hinged to it to move in a path which is oblique and not parallel withthe or with the faces ofthe post. o

It also relates to a combination, with the long arm of the aforesaid lever and 'with'.two handactuating levers, (mounted o'n distant elevated posits) of a diagonal wire connectiomthe object beingto cause the gate to open and shut roadway by changing and destroying its equipoise while seated in a vehicle or on horseback an d eifectin g the best results of the practical application of the principle involved with'the least number and mostvinexpensivecharacter of the parts employed. p

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of the gate when shut and its adjuncts, seen from the inside of inclosure. Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the hanging-post in the line eand e' are wires connecting diagonally withthe hand-levers and with a pivot shifting-lever, P, to be hereinafter described.

.The gate is hung between the posts in-such a manner that when notdisturbed by the shift- :ing mechanism it will stand in perfect equilibrium and hang in true vertical and horilzontal line as well when open as shut.`

The pin p of the bottom hinge should project about two inches farther from the gate than does the pin 12 of the upper hinge, or such distance' as may be deemed a proper deviation from the true'line of gravity, and of course jar.

the eye of the screw-bolt in which the lower v hingepin works will be a corresponding distance nearer to the post than the eye of' the shifting-lever P,in^which eye theupper hingepin works.

The shifting-lever P is pivoted to the post,

as shown, through and against an angularfaced guide'block vor plate, E, in such a manner as to compel the leverto vibrate in a vertical plane at a proper angle of obliqueness with the lin'eof the -roadway, the angle and extent of travel of the top hinge being governed and determined by the relative lset of the hingepins, as aforesaid,soA thatwhen the gatelis jfully opened it will hang under thesame conditions as-whenshut,

Instead of employingfa separate guide, E, ecured to the post', the post itself may be cham'- -fered and the lever secured against itbythe ate onv it with a pulling force, andwhen either.,- of the levers D is pulledin aproper direction for opening or shutting the gate by an approaching operator in a vehicle or on horseback, the

lever P will move the top hinge in'an oblique path, the first effect of which is to nnlatch the 'gate and so change'its center of-gravity that it will move with great impetus at the commencement of the swing, but at the termination will only retain sufficient initial force to latch with certainty and without destructive The very best effect of automatic action is in this Way produced by a simple, durable, and inexpensive device, and I design, by reversing the angle of inclination and a corresponding change in the application of the lever, to apply' the same to the foot of a gate and post for operation by the wheels of a vehiclein the ordinaryway in cases where the arrangement as described for handoperation is inadmissible. p

I disclaim shifting the center of gravity in a gate for automatically opening or closing the Azontel axis to the oblique face of the l1`a-i1ging-v same when so shifted by'either hand or wheel post B, or of 2t plate, E, attached thereto, as

iron lever-connections; but herein shown and described. v

I do claim as my invention and desire, to sev B. F. DIOKEY. eure by Letters Patent- Witnesses:

The vertical lever ilformed with the eye for ETER KOEHER,

iheupper lii'uge-pintlewhen pivotedon a horiI OTTO LEE JOHNSON. 

